SAINT ANTHONY OF PADUA
Wonder Worker
&
Doctor of the Church

Feast Day:
June 13th

Lived:
1195-1231

Patron Saint:
Finder of lost things, the friend of the poor, travelers, bountiful harvest, pregnant women, children, and peacemakers, **Note**(Anthony’s reputation as a “finder of lost things” assures us that evil cannot overwhelm us, for we have been redeemed by Christ. Contemporary devotion also invokes Anthony as a “finder of lost faith” for those alienated from the Church.)

Miracles of St.Anthony:
Anthony’s sermon to the fish at Rimini. The mule that knelt before the Blessed Sacrament. The Psalter that was stolen and returned (on account of which he has become the patron of those who have lost something) The story of how his host saw him holding the child Jesus in his arms when he looked through his window.

Images of Anthony:
The Child Jesus in his arms portrays the miracle. The Bible and lily in his hands shows his love for Scripture and his perfect chastity. The rosary displays his love for the Blessed Mother. A loaf of bread represents his love for the poor.

St. Anthony - lector, orator, contemplative, wonder-worker is considered to be one of the most popular saints in the Catholic Church. Padua, in northern Italy,was not his native city. He was born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1195, according to tradition on the feast of Mary’s Assumption. The fact is that neither the people of Italy nor the people of Portugal can claim him exclusively as their own. Anthony is the saint of the whole world - a universal saint because of his loyalty to the Church, his fierce love for God, and his caring love for God’s children.

Today our Catholic faith is being challenged from within the Church as well as from outside. Many people reject God and Church teaching. Anthony faced the same challenges. Called in his own day”the hammer of heretics”and“the ark of the testament,” he battled heresies that questioned the value of life, the authority of the Church, and the very nature of God. He was eloquent and effective in preaching the truth to a society that was generally ignorant of it. He not only proclaimed the Gospel, he lived it so that his very life was a witness to the truth of his words.